A Day That Started a World War: George Washington at Fort Necessity, 1754

In 1754, Britain and France both claimed the Ohio Country, the rich land where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet. Virginia sent a young, ambitious officer named George Washington, only twenty-two, to push the French out. In May his men ambushed a small French party at Jumonville Glen, and a French officer was killed — many said murdered. The dead man’s brother came looking for revenge. Washington threw up a crude circular palisade in a soggy meadow he called “Great Meadows,” named it Fort Necessity, and waited. He had never commanded a real battle...

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